Hanger assembly



Sept. 13, 1966 G. T. PHILLIPS HANGER ASSEMBLY Filed June 16, 1964 w T NE V N H IS ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,271,918 HANGER ASSEMBLYGeorge T. Phillips, Bedford Village, N.Y., assignor to James A. PhillipsInc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed June 16, 1964,Ser. No. 375,473 Claims. (Cl. 52-493) This invention relates to theassembly of walls and other surfaces from tiles and, more particularly,relates to an improved method and apparatus for securing such tiles inposition.

Walls or drop ceilings formed of an array of removable acoustic tilessupported from hangers are often used in modern building construction toprovide attractive walls or ceilings and allow access to mechanical andelectrical equipment installed in the spaces between the walls orbetween adjacent ceilings and floors. The tiles are frequently damagedduring removal from the supporting hangers when access is required tothese spaces.

In accordance with the present invention, such tile damage is eliminatedby mounting the tiles by brackets of which each is removable from thetile wall or ceiling without preliminarily breaking or otherwisedamaging the particular tiles supported by that bracket.

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference may behad to the following description and to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view partly in section of an embodiment of a dropceiling according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view in section of the ceiling in FIG. 1, the viewbeing taken along the line 22 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a bracket according to the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the drop ceiling is comprised of a horizontal arrayof conventional acoustic tiles 1 1. The tiles 11 have vertical edges 12(FIG. 2) which are provided with horizontal rabbets 13.

A stiff transverse member or bracket 14 has a pair of horizontallydisposed flanges 15 and 1-6 receivable in the horizontal rabbets formedin the vertical edges .12 of the tiles 11. Detents 17 may be stamped orsimilarly formed in the horizontal flanges 15 and 16 to provide a snugfit between the rabbets 13 and the flanges 15 and 16.

An inverted V-shaped hollow vertical web 18 having a height at leastequal to approximately one-half of the thickness of the tiles 11 isformed in the bracket 14 between the flanges 15 and .16. As shown (FIG.3), a portion of the top of the web 18 is cut away to form a slot 20whose purpose will be described subsequently.

Upwardly protruding vertical flanges 21 and 22 are formed on the end ofthe bracket 14 adjacent to the slot 20. A pair of small hemisphericaldetents 23 and 24 are formed in the vertical flanges 21 and 22 and arespaced above the apex of the vertical web 18.

A stiff, tubular longitudinal member of channel 25 is (FIGS. 1 and 2)permanently fixed to a portion of a building (not shown) and is disposedimmediately above the bracket 14. The channel 25 has resilient,downwardly converging sides 27 and 28 on opposite sides of a lengthwiseslit 26, the sides 27 and 28 having upwardly diverging curved inneredges 26A and 26B. A pair of parallel sides 29 and 30 form the lowerportion of the lengthwise slit 26. Longitudinal and horizontallydisposed bracing flanges 31 and 32 are flared away from the lower edgeof the parallel sides 29 and 30, respectively.

In operation, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the rabbeted edges of the tiles11 are placed on the horizontal flanges 15 and 16 of the hanger 14 sothat the upper halves of the vertical tile edges 12 abut the web 18. Thedetents 17 on the horizontal flanges 15 and 16 engage the inner surfacesof the rabbets '13 and retain the tiles 11 on the bracket 14. When thetiles 11 are suitably arranged on the bracket .14, the vertical flanges21 and 22 are urged into the slit 26 which is wedged apart by theuppermost quadrants of the hemispherical detents 23 and 24. Thehemispherical detents 23 and 24 on the vertical flanges 21 and 22 of thebracket 14 are so spaced above the apex of the vertical web 18 that thelowermost quadrants of the detents are wedged against the curved inneredge 26A of the slit 26 to thereby draw the apex of the web 18 againstthe bracing flange 32.

In like manner, a similar bracket 34 is urged into the slit 26 inabutting relationship with the bracket 14, thereby further separatingthe opposing edges of the slit 26 and increasing the forces holding thebrackets 14 and 34 within the channel 25.

To withdraw the bracket .14 from engagement within the channel 25, theblade 35 of a knife or like tool is inserted between the vertical edges12 of adjacent tiles 11 and through the central slot 20 in the verticalweb 18. As shown (FIG. 2), the blade is passed laterally through theslot at an angle to the vertical so that the forward end of the bladecomes to rest against the side 28 of channel 25, and so that lower andupper edge portions 36 and 37 of the blade are in contact with,respectively, the upper portion 38 of the edge at the left hand edge ofthe slot and the lower portion 39 of the edge at the right hand end ofthe slot. Those two edge portions provide fulcra against which the toolis levered to jack the bracket 14 out of the slit 26.

Such jacking is accomplished by gripping the tool handle (not shown),and by then tilting the tool counterclockwise by wrist movement andsimultaneously displacing the tool in a downward movement guided by thechannel side 28 against which the blade 35 rests. After the verticalportions 21 and 22 of the bracket 14 have been jacket out of the slit26, the tiles 11 may be removed from the horizontally disposed flanges1'5 and 16.

Since the slot 20 enables the tool blade 35 to be slipped in between thetwo tiles to either side of bracket 14 and to then engage with thebracket in a manner permitting it to be jacked out of the channel 25 bythe tool, the provision in the bracket 14 of the slot 20 permits thebracket to be removed Without preliminarily disturbing one or the otheror both of such tiles in order to get a good grip on the bracket. Hence,:a slotted bracket in accordance with the present invention eliminatesthe practice which was hitherto necessary of breaking or otherwisedamaging some of the tiles of a tile panel in order to remove thetile-supporting brackets of the panel.

While a representative embodiment of the present invention has beenshown and described for purposes of illustration, various changes andmodifications may be made therein without departing from the principlesof this invention. Therefore, all such changes and modifications areincluded within the intended scope of the invention as defined by thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. Tile support apparatus for a panel of tiles comprising, a channelmember having formed therein a lengthwise slit with resilientlyseparable sides, a tile-support bracket disposed outwards of said slitin transverse relation to the center plane thereof, said bracket havinga web towards said slit, flange means extending from said bracket intosaid slit and releasably grasped within said slit by the resilient sidesthereof, and fulcrum means provided by said web for a tool adapted byengagement with said fulcrum means to exert on said bracket a pullingforce by which said flange means is removable from said slit.

2. Tile support apparatus comprising, bracket means having alongitudinally extending, transversely central portion and having ontransversely opposite sides thereof a pair of longitudinal means forsupporting transversely spaced tiles on said opposite sides of saidportion, means laterally salient in one direction from said bracketmeans and yieldably graspable by a support and backing member for saidbracket means, and means in said transversely central portion providingon said bracket means at least one fulcrum portion for a tool bladeinsertable between said spaced tiles, said fulcrum portion beingengageable by the edge of a blade portion offset in said one directionaway from said fulcrum portion so as to permit said blade portion tojack said bracket means away from said member.

3. Tile support apparatus comprising, bracket means having alongitudinally extending, transversely central portion and having ontransversely opposite sides thereof a pair of longitudinal means forsupporting transversely spaced tiles on said opposite sides of saidportion, means laterally salient in one direction from said bracketmeans and yieldably graspable by a support and backing member for saidbracket means, such bracket means having formed in said central portiona longitudinal slot passing laterally through such portion, and saidslot providing at each of its longitudinally opposite ends a fulcrumportion on said bracket means for tool blade insertable between saidspaced tiles through said slot to engage said bracket means at each ofsaid ends.

4. Tile support apparatus comprising, a bracket member having alongitudinal vertical hollow Web of inverted V shape, said member alsohaving two horizontal longitudinal tile support flanges on transverselyopposite sides of said web, said web having a portion thereof cut awayto provide a longitudinal slot extending vertically through said web,and flange means salient from said bracket member and insertable into aresilient holding slit in a support and backing channel for said bracketmember.

-5. A method of removing from a support and backing member atile-support bracket resiliently fastened to and backed by said member,said bracket being disposed transversely between two spaced tiles in apanel thereof to support such two tiles, and said bracket having a slotpassing laterally therethrough at a position transversely intermediatesaid two tiles, said method comprising, inserting the blade of a toolfrom the front side of said panel between said two tiles and throughsaid slot to position a portion of said blade at the back side of saidbracket,

- tilting said tool by manipulation thereof at said front sideReferences Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,73 8,469 12/1929 Weiss 52-493 2,660,409 11/ 1953 Pittenger et a1. 52-493 3,164,2301/ 1965 Adams 52-493 REINALDO P. MAOHADO, Primary Examiner.

1. THE SUPPORT APPARATUS FOR A PANEL OF TILES COMPRISING, A CHANNELMEMBER HAVING FORMED THEREIN A LENGTHWISE SLIT WITH RESILIENTLYSEPARABLE SIDES, A TILE-SUPPORT BRACKET DISPOSED OUTWARDS OF SAID SLITIN TRANSVERSE RELATION TO THE CENTER PLANE THEREOF, SAID BRACKET HAVINGA WEB TOWARDS SAID SLIT, FLANGE MEANS EXTENDING FROM SAID BRACKET INTOSAID SLIT AND RELEASABLY GRASPED WITHIN SAID SLIT BY THE RESILIENT SIDESTHEREOF, AND FULCRUM MEANS PROVIDED BY SAID WEB FOR A TOOL ADAPTED BYENGAGEMENT WITH SAID FULCRUM MEANS TO EXERT ON SAID BRACKET A PULLINGFORCE BY WHICH SAID FLANGE MEANS IS REMOVABLE FROM SAID SLIT.